This guest post is from Kacie’s younger sister, Julie. Julie is 17 years old and is finishing her junior year in high school. She received a promotional copy of High School Money Book, and graciously agreed to share her thoughts with us.

High School Money Book by Don Silver isn’t something I would pick up and start to read if I saw it by chance on a shelf in a bookstore or library. From the looks of the book, it doesn’t even seem to be targeted to teens. The bright yellow cover would grab one’s attention, but once the high schooler sees the clip art on the cover, they think “It’s a lame book that is too boring to read,” if they aren’t looking for monetary advice.

You all know the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” TAKE GREAT HEED! I may have not been impressed by the cover, but the contents were very helpful. The book wasn’t monotonous; it was sweet and to the point. Looking up a certain topic was quick and easy. Some common sense things were stated, but what is common sense to me isn’t to everyone else.

Topics in the book include practical advice for day-to-day living, how to handle debt and credit, smart ways to prepare for college, and more.

The book taught me what credit cards really cost, fees for just owning one, how to get out of debt, how APR works, and more.

I learned more about haggling at retail stores. I never realized that haggling existed in the modern world!

I enjoyed the “brain teasers” found in the book. I learned tidbits about the history of money, from the first coins used to when ATMs started appearing.

“High School Money Book” made me think a little more about money I was actually wasting. In the past, I would just buy something, and didn’t bother to shop around at other stores. I wasted money, when I could have gotten the same thing for $10 cheaper.

High schoolers don’t care about money that much. We only start to care if we’re broke. But, maybe the lessons I’ve learned will stick with me when I actually have money to spend and save.

I would recommend this book to my friends, but unfortunately it isn’t at our public library. I wouldn’t buy it because I think it costs way too much ($19.95 new on Amazon), but I guess you have to spend money to make money–and in this case, save money.

Edit: The book is just $13.95 (plus $4 s/h) at www.adams-hall.com (the publisher’s website).

I actually had it sent to me as well and have a post waiting to publish on it slated for Wednesday 5/21, but this is very similar to what I thought of it. Good for high schoolers to check out and I actually had Don in a little informal interview and he said that it was getting adopted in schools across the country. I think that’s a VERY good alternative to “home ec”. :)